“Every morning the children ask me where we are going” • The municipality: Handled like any other
Nine-year-old Tabasum Rahmanyar trains on the football field at Rudboda school in Lidingö. Her big dream is to become a soccer star, but it has had to be put on hold. Now she instead dreams of being able to stay in her home.
– My friends were so sad today. They hugged me and just, please don’t move, she says.
Her father’s Najibullah Rahmanyar worked as an interpreter for the Swedish Armed Forces in Afghanistan and when the Taliban took over power in 2021, the family had to flee to Sweden. They have now lived on Lidingö for two years, which according to the municipality’s rules means that they have to leave the apartment they have been allocated.
– Every morning the children ask me where we are going. But I have no answer, says Najibullah.
Municipalities do differently: “Very strange”
According to the Settlement Act from 2016, municipalities are obliged to receive and arrange housing for new arrivals. But the law does not say anything about the type of housing or how long the housing must be offered, which means that the country’s municipalities act in different ways.
In Linköping you can get a permanent residence after a certain period of time, in Malmö you get a four-year contract and on Lidingö, where the Rahmanyar family lives, new arrivals have to move when the establishment period has expired, which is after two years.
– After this two-year period, you have to take responsibility for your own accommodation and take responsibility for your own livelihood. Then the residents are handled just like all other Lidingö residents. It is wrong to prioritize people because of their background, says Daniel Källenfors, chairman of the municipal board in Lidingö.
Najibullah is frustrated that his friends, who came to Sweden at the same time as him but received accommodation in other municipalities, have different conditions.
– It’s very strange. One country, one city, but different rules. If it’s two years for me, it should be two years for everyone. If it is three or four years for others, it should be the same for me, he says.
How do you see your own responsibility for trying to find a home?
– During these two years, my job was to learn the Swedish language. I did it. My job was to find a job. I did it. Everything is new: rules, culture, people, language, society. I can’t do everything at once.
Uncertain future
What will happen on Monday, the family does not know. But older sister Tabasum still hopes to stay on Lidingö.
– I dream that I will not change schools. I think my friends… they said they could help us, she says.
The minister comments
Integration Minister Johan Pehrson (L) announces the following in a written comment to TV4 Nyheterna.
“It is important that you receive support during the first period in Sweden. The government is working to ensure that more people learn Swedish faster and earn their own livelihood. It is true that there are big differences today between how long municipalities offer accommodation. The government is therefore investigating a model with establishment accommodation, which will apply for a maximum of three years and where the municipalities make the accommodation conditional on, for example, participating in the establishment program at the Employment Agency, which may include Sfi or other training. Our hope is that it will increase equality between municipalities and lead to more people getting into work.”